Woman whose body was found in burnt-out car doesn't appear to have been reported missing: Police

A woman whose body was found in a burnt-out car near Havelock North does not appear to have been reported as missing, police say.

Detective Inspector Dave De Lange said on Wednesday police could confirm the body is that of a woman's, but identifying her remained their priority.

Forensic testing and formal identification procedures were under way, he said, but this was expected to take some time.

"We want to find out who this woman is and speak with her family," De Lange said.

"This will be devastating news for them and we will be wrapping support around then once we know who they are.

"We are still treating the death as unexplained while we wait for post mortem and forensic testing results but are keeping an open mind as to what has occurred."

De Lange said police had been carrying out an area canvass and reviewing CCTV footage as we seek to piece together what has led to this incident.

They had already been looking at missing persons cases which may be relevant but at this early stage "this has not assisted the investigation team".

"We would ask anyone with information about who this woman may be to get in touch with police as soon as possible."

People could do so by visiting your local station or calling police on 105 quoting file number: 220905/1265.

On Tuesday police admitted they investigated the abandoned, burnt-out vehicle with a woman's body inside two days before it was found by a member of the public, but no investigation was opened because they assumed the body was the remains of an animal.

The first report of the incident from a member of the public was of a "dead animal" on the vehicle's floor.

The vehicle was first discovered on Saturday morning in the River Rd carpark, on the outskirts of Havelock North and near some of Hawke's Bay's most prestigious vineyards.

The car remained there over the weekend.

Eastern Police District Commander Jeanette Park said that staff initially attended the scene after a call from a member of the public about 10am on Saturday.

Police comb an area near the River Rd carpark in Havelock North for clues after a burnt-out car with a body inside was found on Monday. Photo / Neil Reid

"The condition of the vehicle and debris from the fire meant staff did not immediately identify the human remains."

On Monday a dog walker took a closer look at it and made the grisly discovery of a woman's body in the wreck, alerting police to again take a closer look at it.

The dog walker said police who attended initially told him the remains were of a sheep.

"I started picking up all the melted bits of aluminium around the car. As I was doing that I noticed inside the car what to me looked like a corpse," the Hastings man told the Herald.